Open letter to Frank Ocean- Thank you for being you….

This morning I woke up to a phone call from a good friend saying that Frank Ocean came out today via his Tumblr, and that the internet was going crazy. Excitement filled my mind and I sat up immediately to see what all the buzz was about. To my surprise, the singer had posted a lengthy letter explaining what it was like being in love for the first time. He also explained that his first love was a man….

Dear Frank Ocean,

Thank you for being you. You have no idea how many lives you have touched by telling your story of love and self acceptance. You saved someones life today. Some little black boy will be able to go on another day because YOU told your story, and now they feel like they can love whoever they want to love and be succesful too. They see that life is not over and that it only begins when you begin to be true with yourself.

The fact that you decided to be honest about who you are and who you love is amazing. Black men in the industry feel like their careers will wither and die if they come out. They feel like they have to hide who they are in order to be accepted by the their peers. You my friend, are a gem. I hope that in the future, other’s are inspired to do what you did and be brave enough to simply be honest about who they are. People should be judged on merit, not sexuality. Until that day comes all we can do is hope for more people like you to come about and take a stand for equality. May you achieve every goal and dream your heart desires.

Aryka Randall is a media mogul in the making from San Diego, California. After relocating to Louisiana in 2004, Randall became active in her local LGBTQ community.
Randall was recently featured on Go Magazines annual ‘100 Women We Love‘ issue along with Tagg Magazine, the Dinah Shore Blog, and a number of other LGBT publications for her work in the LGBT community